


Keep me Warm

by Mental_Kitten



Series: Problem Child series [8]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Child Neglect, Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Male Friendship, Other, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Male/Male Relationships, Platonic Relationships, and it's usually karl's, beating your kids doesn't make them straight, they share a braincell, why are there two techno tag jfc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-12 10:41:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29508468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mental_Kitten/pseuds/Mental_Kitten
Summary: Fire doesn't have to hurt.
Relationships: Alexis | Quackity & Karl Jacobs, Alexis | Quackity & Karl Jacobs & Sapnap, Alexis | Quackity & Sapnap
Series: Problem Child series [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2035459
Comments: 59
Kudos: 221





	Keep me Warm

**Author's Note:**

> okay so attempted fluff and also im spazzing out and i had like too much heart attack juice so if this is bad i don't super give a shit 
> 
> Thank Tram for picking gaynap before anyone else could pick sadnap :)

Nick hated the cold. He always hated the way the freezing air would nip at his cheeks and make his nose run. He especially hated the nights where he had to sleep on the porch, his knees tucked under whatever shirt he was in. He hated those nights. 

He wasn’t sure when the change happened. His mother and father seemed to be in love at one point. He didn’t know what changed. Or why he was thrown into the middle of it. With how happy they seemed to look in photos, he couldn’t help but think that it was  _ him _ . 

Moving seemed to only strain their relationship further. He was excited to be in the small town, away from the suburbs of Maine. People there had grown too accustomed to seeing him sleep on the porch, and believed his father’s words of how he enjoyed stargazing. If they knew it was bullshit, they still listened. 

He knew the real reason they had moved. His mother was embarrassed that he had been starting fires at school. Which wasn’t  _ true _ . The principals and social workers who would interrogate him could confirm that he never had matches on him. Sometimes things just  _ burned _ .

Which wasn’t entirely true. He could feel the heat sometimes, before it happened. It was always more intense whenever he wasn’t actually touching it. He could remember the projector in Ms. Bungo’s math class sparking. He wasn’t even  _ seated _ near it, but he was somehow blamed. 

He was told he was a pyromaniac, and that he was  _ sick _ . The doctor he was taken to never heard his side of it, but he ate up whatever horrible explanation his dad threw out. It was how he got medicated so early in life. 

The meds made him feel sluggish and made him put on weight, which pissed his dad off pretty bad. His mother seemed to think the opposite, so it was just another thing to add to the list of things for them to argue over. In front of him. 

He could remember how uncomfortable his shirt was while he waited for the bus, his clothes fitting weird since he was given Seroquel on top of his Abilify. He hated it. But he couldn’t do much, and waking up feeling like a corpse seemed to convince his parents that he was getting better. 

The way it made him feel sick didn’t make  _ him _ think that he was getting any better. The fires didn’t stop, either. Things still seemed to overheat and spark around him, and he still got the hot flashes that the doctor said was a side effect of the psych meds. 

He sat at the front of the bus because the driver had apparently been warned that he was a ‘fire-starter’. Which she made sure to say loud enough for everyone else on the bus to hear. His first day of school in a new town and he was already shit-talked in front of everyone else. 

That didn’t seem to stop Alexis from slipping into the seat next to him, declaring himself as his new best friend. He said something about telling all the teachers his name was Quackity as some elaborate prank, but Nick was more focused on how someone was actually  _ talking _ to him. 

Apparently he had been told by an older boy that names were important, so he had spent the summer trying to find a ‘codename’ he liked. He agreed to help convince adults, which they would find out was easier than they first thought. Kids tended to prefer nicknames in the town, which was weird but not enough for Nick to give too much thought about. 

That was how Quackity ended up being his first friend. It was surprisingly easy for the guy to navigate social settings, which he couldn’t do like  _ that _ . Quackity was social without trying, and could light a whole room up with laughter. He was  _ warm _ .

He also didn’t seem to mind the first time Nick got pissed off and set his textbook on fire. He had been dragged away by the teacher who apparently made something up about how he had pulled out a lighter. Quackity was the one who got a few friends to agree that they didn’t see him do anything, which was why he only got suspended and not expelled. 

Apparently starting fires without anything was cool to the others in his friend group. Which wasn’t a lot of people, honestly. It was mostly just him, Quackity, Karl, and sometimes Nikki or Puffy. Who would sometimes bring Fundy along with. 

Quackity seemed to think that it was a lot cooler than knowing Spanish, even if Nick disagreed. He would rather know another language than have to miss entire weeks of school for ‘starting fires’ when he  _ didn’t _ .

It wasn’t a lot of people, but it was enough for him to not be lonely. Fundy was the one who taught him how to hide pills behind his teeth once he heard about the meds that made him feel sick. Apparently the ginger boy was supposed to take an ADHD medicine that made him feel just as shitty. 

It was a horrible thing for them to bond over, but it was pretty much the only thing they had in common. Fundy liked to play in the dirt and claimed to be nocturnal, and Nick hated the dark. They would talk, though. They could spend hours talking about random topics without feeling out of place. He found that Fundy was warm, too. 

He also found that Nikki and Puffy weren’t as warm. They seemed more distant, which he was okay with. They had never been particularly close. As they grew, he only ever saw Puffy on the field when he went to football games. Quackity was on the team, and complained endlessly about how he got picked on for not being as big. 

The first year of middle school was when he met Clay. They hit it off pretty well, and got along for the most part despite being in different grades. He could finally wake up without feeling dead, and he managed to drop a  _ lot _ of weight from not taking his pills. If anything, he was calmer without them. 

The fires seemed to leave him alone for the most part in middle school. The only reason he gave any thought to it was because Clay’s best friend, Techno, mentioned that it sounded like it was ‘his element’. It was the first time he had heard the guy  _ talk _ .

He was told in about seven words that fire was  _ his _ , so he should be able to control it. Clay talked enough for the both of them, so he always thought they were a good pair. But Techno seemed to  _ know his shit _ . 

Quackity and Karl seemed to be more interested in his ‘abilities’ than he was. Quackity liked to try and edge him into trying to set their tests on fire so they wouldn’t have to do them, and Karl kept trying to see if scaring him would trigger flames. 

He was the one to mention how they made him feel warm, so they should try something with that. It was how Nick ended up holding hands with his two best friends after school as he tried to will a fire to start at his feet. The feeling bubbling in his stomach from the contact was  _ not _ fire, though. 

His mom was the one who mentioned how much time he spent with the two. He explained that it was because they were his friends, and they made him feel  _ warm _ . She had asked if he like-liked them. He didn’t have an answer for her. 

His dad was upset at the idea. Very,  _ very _ upset. It was how he learned that liking boys was bad. He brought it up with them at lunch the next day, trying to explain why his dad said he had to stop talking to them. It wasn’t a conversation the trio of twelve year old's could wrap their heads around.

Karl was actually the one to suggest that he not tell his dad about them hanging out. Anything devious usually came from Quackity. Karl was the one to suggest they  _ not _ do the stupid shit that got them in trouble, even if he enjoyed it just as much. 

It didn’t work too well. His dad had him up at five in the morning, and he had to run an hour before he got ready for school. He hated to admit it, but he did enjoy how the feeling made his day start. Plus it got him out of the house, and away from the routine screaming. 

His parents were arguing at all hours by the time he was a freshman in high school. He really wished they just got a divorce. Apparently the compromise was to buy a storefront in town and set up a bakery. Working with his mom there was a nice escape from his father, but he always had to go back. 

Karl was the one to ask him about the one bruise. He couldn’t exactly lie about it. Not to Karl. Even if the boy seemed to not possess the ability to do weird shit, it was impossible to lie to his face. Or maybe it was just impossible for Nick to lie to him. 

He tried to bury himself in wrestling and schoolwork, but he hated both of them. Working with his mom was a nice release, and it always filled him with an odd sense of giddiness when he reached into the oven without the heat daring to harm him. It made him feel like he had some kind of superpower. 

Karl mentioned having him over for a sleepover for his birthday during their first year. He agreed, assuming that Quackity would be there so he could keep the topic off of the marks across his back. Quackity was not there. But Karl’s parents were. 

They seemed amused when he stumbled over the prayer before dinner, but were otherwise pretty nice to him. Which was weird. Karl’s family was warm. He was quickly learning that his own was not. 

Fires did seem to pop up around more when he lacked that warmth. The fires dancing under his skin is the only thing that kept him safe during the winter months, when his mom would leave and his dad would get drunk. When he got locked out of the house for the night. 

He used to prefer getting hit, but the fires kept him warm.  _ He _ kept himself warm. The feeling of rage bubbling up from the idea of how he could’ve easily  _ died _ without what he was was the first time he held fire in his palm. 

He had stared into it for what could’ve been hours. It was probably only a few seconds, since it quickly burned him. The fire was too  _ hot _ . The usual warmth wasn’t there. It was angry, and  _ sad _ . It  _ hurt _ .

That was the night that he figured out what was going on, for the most part. The fire  _ was _ him. He was  _ warm _ . The flames under his skin would conjure themselves if he let them. But rage  _ hurt _ . Rage was too  _ hot _ . 

It took a few tries, but he found nice thoughts to help him summon them to his hands without harming himself. Karl was one of them, with how he covered his mouth when he laughed too hard. Or when Quackity would light up when someone laughed at his joke. 

He told them, naturally. Quackity was at their usual table due to being in a sport, but he managed to flag Karl down in their history class. They both seemed excited, and they skipped the last period to go test it out. 

Nick caught his jeans on fire, and Quackity tried to stomp it out while Karl dumped the contents of his juice box on the mess. It was the most fun he had in awhile, laughing with his friends as the anxiety of the fire almost spreading was washed away. 

Karl said something the next day about how he was warm, and ended up pulling out an entire PDF he had printed out about pyrokinesis. He aided Quackity in picking on him for it, especially since he flushed when he mentioned that he highlighted parts of it. 

Their study hall was spent discussing the information, which Nick thought was mostly wrong. Especially the part where it said that most of it was believed to be a myth, since it was always proven false. Quackity made fun of him for it, and Karl got upset that his solution was to set the pages they were holding on fire. 

Nick noticed that Karl could usually be seen with a water bottle, one of the squeeze ones that Quackity complained about having to use during football games. He asked about it during one of their shared lunch periods. He was told that it was so he could make sure Nick didn’t get in trouble for lighting anything, since he would make sure to be nearby to put it out. 

The odd rush of warmth that filled him made the plastic fork he had been holding melt into itself, which apparently wasn’t helped by the stream of water that coated him. Quackity was pissed that he had gotten wet as well, so he had whipped grapes at Karl. Only to miss and smack someone behind him. Nick had never seen a food fight before outside of a movie, but it was a lot scarier than Hollywood made it seem. 

He hid under the table with Karl while Quackity ended up recording a lot of it. All three of them got suspended for a week since they wouldn’t rat on each other. Nick tore up the notice letter and left the house at his usual time, not wanting to be near parents. 

His dad had apparently ran into Karl’s mom at the store, who talked about ‘how sweet of a boy he was’. Which he apparently took as him defying his wishes to stay away from the other boy. Which he was. And he planned to continue to. 

Karl was the one who mentioned on the bus ride home that they could spend their newfound free time at his house. Quackity got grounded, so they video called him from Karl’s computer whenever they hung out. Nick had learned enough Spanish to know that his mom was  _ pissed _ when she caught him on the phone with them. 

Quackity praying was a lot less funny since the three boys were convinced that he was about to be  _ murdered _ . He wasn’t, but his mom said  _ something something  _ ‘ _ novios _ ’. He didn’t know what it meant, but Quackity was yelling fast enough that neither he nor Karl could figure out what was being said despite the sprinkle of English in his shouting. 

Nick sat and listened to his friend yell through the phone, propped on his elbows. Karl had slipped next to him, pressing into his side while trying to move closer to the speaker as if it would make the incoherency more distinguishable. He moved closer as well, but not to try and hear better. 

The feeling in his gut bubbled up again, making his cheeks warm and his head light as they spent the rest of the day talking. Quackity bitched at them for ‘cuddling without him’ since Karl had thrown a blanket over them at some point. 

“I got cold! You know how warm he is!” Was his reasoning. Quackity agreed, which only confused Nick further. The two explained that he was always warm to be near. They joked about how it was why they fought over who got to sit with him on the bus once they got too big to squeeze all three of them into the seat. 

Nick was surprised by what he was hearing, the familiar warmth creeping up his cheeks. Quackity noticed first and made fun of it for him, which was how he ended up with Sap since he fucked up trying to call him a simp. His laughing made the boy try and toss words together in an insult, which was how ‘nap’ got tagged to the end. ‘Because you’re a sleepy bitch’ didn’t upset him as much as Quackity probably wanted it to. 

  
  
  
Karl and Quackity had always made  _ him _ feel warm. He just hoped that he could keep them warm, too. 

**Author's Note:**

> there is one spanish word and if someone bitches, im going to write quackity fic that is all spanish with enough spaces inbetween that u can't google translate without reforming the whole thing 
> 
> novios means boyfriends btw


End file.
